But it's frustrating to see my local councillors give themselves a pay rise out of the money

To give them credit, the Conservative opposition were horrified and voted against the rise of £547 to £4,942. And so much for pretending to worry about the old dears in the area as the councillors have raised the price of day centre meals by six per cent.

Having stood twice as an independent – and been rejected twice – I know some of the characters with their noses in the trough and have even contributed heavily to the election expenses of a couple of them. I won’t be making that mistake again.

Be interested to hear if your local councillors are seeing themselves right in the 4.99 per cent council tax increase.

Last year the Standard made a healthy £3.4million profit. But this year the forecast is a £4million loss, with that figure doubling to £8million in 2018 because advertising in print is forecast to continue its downward spiral.

With no cover price – the Standard is free – the slightest of movements in advertising has a horrendous effect on the annual profit and loss statement. And that’s where Osbo comes in.

The first I heard of the expression was last autumn when attending a family wedding in upstate New York where a guest had been told of the dance by his 13-year-old daughter.

The guest, a portly chap, tried to explain to me how the dance worked but I didn’t quite get it so he ­performed it for me. He went down as though it was the twist from the Sixties but ­suddenly there was a ­tremendous ripping noise.

His trousers had exploded under the ­pressure and were torn asunder from the nether regions right up to the waist with only his belt holding them up.